Bio

“Classical music without pretense...” is Alissa Cheung’s approach to her multi-faceted career. A native of Edmonton, AB, violinist and composer, Alissa (B.Sc. ’07, B.Mus. ’09, MM ’13) is now based in Montreal, QC as a member of Quatuor Bozzini.  Ms. Cheung's solo and chamber performances have taken her throughout Canada, USA, Europe, and Japan, and she has been featured in the Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, CBC Radio (Canada), CKUA Radio (Edmonton), CISM (Montreal, QC), and WPKN Radio (Bridgeport, CT). 

An adamant interpreter of new music, Alissa was an Artist in Residence at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival (2011) in North Adams, MA, at the Weill Institute 21st-Century American Contemporary Ensemble Workshop at Carnegie Hall (2013), and at the Lucerne Festival Academy (2013). 

As a composer, her works have been performed at the C'mon Festival (Edmonton), Conservatoire de musique de Montreal, Centre d'arts Orford, Open Space (Victoria), Jordan Hall (Boston), Morse Recital Hall (New Haven, CT), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Tone List Church Series (Perth, Australia), and Kunstkeramik (Lucerne, Switzerland). Ms. Cheung studied composition privately with Antoine Beuger (Germany), Hannah Lash (Yale) and Piotr Grella-Mozejko (Edmonton), and attended Centre d'arts Orford Composition Workshop with Jean Lesage and Ana Sokolovic (2015).

In addition to private teaching, Ms. Cheung has been Part-Time Faculty at Concordia University (Montreal), Sessional Instructor at King’s University College and faculty member of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music. She is also a passionate leader in educational initiatives such as Quatuor Bozzini's Quatuor à l'école Program, the ESO’s Adopt-a-Player Program, and the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program.

From 2010-14, Ms. Cheung was a tenured member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO, Violin I) as a testament to her educational experiences with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (2001, 2002), the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (2008), and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra (2010).

Ms. Cheung’s principal violin teachers were Marian Moody, Ranald Shean, Broderyck Olson (Edmonton), Thomas Williams (McGill), and Ani Kavafian (Yale). Other influential coaches include Malcolm Lowe, Mark Fewer, Rafael Rosenfeld, Kyoko Hashimoto, Mark Gothoni and members of the Tokyo, Juilliard, and Concord Quartets. She is also a grateful recipient of financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Anne Burrows Music Foundation, the Yale School of Music, the Stuart Walker Fund, the Edmonton Community Foundation Winspear Fund, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Schulich School of Music, and the Williamson Foundation for Music for her professional development and past musical studies.

Ms. Cheung teaches to students of all levels, and all ages.